Murky Waters: The Impact of Oil Spills and Oil Spill Cleanup Dispersants on Gulf Coast Mangrove Habitats

摘要

In this experiment, I am proving how oil spills by themselves and oil spills treated with cleaning dispersants can harmfully impact mangrove swamps and the sea life and other creatures that live in them. To replicate what happened to the mangrove swamps as a result of the 2010 Gulf oil spill, I used three separate tanks, each containing bunches of mangroves in four gallons of pure ocean water. My "control" tank stayed this way. I put motor oil in the second tank, and motor oil and Dawn Ultra Concentrated dishwashing liquid in the third tank. Dawn is a dish cleaning dispersant. I calculated the amount of oil and dish soap to put in the tanks' ocean water, based on the ratio of ocean water to crude oil, and crude oil to Corexit, a dispersant that was dumped in the Gulf of Mexico. For 22 days, I measured the pH and oxygen levels of the tanks and observed their appearance. I wanted to see if the conditions were healthy enough for plants, organisms, and other creatures to survive. The tank with the Dawn and the oil showed healthy pH levels and unhealthy oxygen levels. The tank with just the oil resulted in unhealthy pH and oxygen levels. This leads me to think that both oil alone and oil treated with some dispersants can harm mangroves and their ecosystems. I hope that this experiment will spread awareness of how we need to save our mangrove habitats from further damage and destruction from the Gulf oil spill and other oil spills, and from toxic cleaning dispersants.